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Nearly 12 months after Australia’s new Aged Care Act came into effect, Interim First Nations Aged Care Commissioner Jodi Cassar is travelling the country to find out whether Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders and older people are benefiting from promised reforms.
Appointed in July 2026, Ms Cassar said the next phase of aged care reform must focus on embedding the changes already in place and ensuring they make a practical difference in the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders and older people.
“That means listening to people, families, communities, and providers about what has improved, what remains difficult, and where the new arrangements aren’t working as intended,” she told The Ageing Agenda.
A proud Kamilaroi/Gamilaroi woman, Ms Cassar brings more than two decades of experience in government reform to the role, most recently serving as First Assistant Secretary for the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.
“A lot of my role is actively out and about on the road, and in communities,” she said. “[I will be] going into communities, with their permission, and working with both the Elders and older people, but also with the services that provide aged care to those areas and really listening to their needs.”
Rights-based care
With the new Aged Care Act came a Statement of Rights, strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards, and a greater emphasis on cultural safety and supported decision-making.
Ms Cassar believes those changes have the potential to significantly improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders and older people, if they are implemented effectively.
“The right to culturally safe, culturally appropriate, trauma-aware, and healing-informed care, supported decision-making and culturally safe assessment options are a real key,” she said.
“Collectively, they give Elders and older people a strong basis to express their wishes, to be able to remain connected to community and Country or their Island Home, as well as to expect providers to respond to older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people connecting with their identity, their culture, and their family and kinship models as well.”
Reforms are also being supported by culturally safe aged care assessment pilots operating through Aboriginal-controlled organisations across parts of Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Beyond compliance
While stronger legislation now underpins the aged care system, Ms Cassar said genuine cultural safety cannot be achieved through compliance activities alone.
She warned against treating cultural safety as a one-off training exercise, saying providers need to embed it throughout the care experience.
“It’s a common mistake to treat cultural safety as a tick box or a training activity that we have to do once a year,” she said. “It’s much deeper than that, and it’s an ongoing learning journey for the workforce, the providers, and their leadership structures.”
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders and older people, culturally safe care requires providers to understand an individual’s identity, culture, and spirituality, while also recognising the lasting impacts of historical trauma.
“Some of our Elders and older people are Stolen Generation survivors,” Ms Cassar said. “It’s important that we place value in being able to take the time to build trust with the older person.”
Ms Cassar emphasised the significance of family and kinship structures in decision-making. She recommends providers implement practical measures, such as including cultural preferences in care planning, providing access to interpreters where required, and creating spaces where cultural practices can continue.
“Are there spaces for cultural activities and ceremonies to still occur in ageing settings?” she said. “Is there access to bushland or water or gardens? Is there common respect for men’s business and women’s business and Sorry Business as they arise?”
Ageing positively
First Nations Australians are generally eligible to access government-funded aged care services from the age of 50, and Ms Cassar hopes greater emphasis can be placed on healthy ageing and earlier engagement with support programs.
“We [First Nations Australians] are still a good eight years behind in terms of life expectancy to non-Indigenous Australians, but we are seeing positive progress in our ageing, and that is because people are taking their health a lot more seriously,” she said.
The interim commissioner said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be encouraged to connect with the aged care system before they reach a crisis point, allowing them to better understand available services and make informed choices as they age.
“People can actually access these services earlier, so they’re not accessing services when they are in poor health, or in a crisis moment,” she said.
Ms Cassar also highlighted that positive ageing for older First Nations people in aged care extends throughout entire communities.
“What’s their ability to remain connected to their families, community, culture and Country?” she said. “How do we also recognise the many roles that our Elders and older people hold not just as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people, but as the knowledge holders, leaders, carers and teachers in their local communities as well?”
A permanent commissioner
Alongside her work on Country, Ms Cassar is tasked with laying the foundations for a permanent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aged Care Commissioner and office. Both are expected to commence on 1 July next year, subject to legislation passing Parliament and the appointment of a permanent commissioner.
The permanent role is intended to establish an independent voice within the aged care system and ensure the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders and older people continue to inform policy, regulation and service delivery.
“A big part of my role is the design of the permanent office with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, looking at the funding and the systems and delegations that that office would have, as well as what evidence, and importantly, the relationships that it has to be able to operate effectively from its first day,” Ms Cassar said.
She believes success will be measured not by legislation or statistics alone, but by whether Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders and older people can access care that reflects their choices, respects their culture and keeps them connected to their family, community and Country or Island Home.
“The next real opportunity lies in making those changes a more consistent service offering. That is really felt by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in their communities,” she said.
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